Improvement in apparatus for inserting and extracting well-tubes



'J. '1. S'I-IERFEY. APPARATUS FOR INSERTING AND EXTRAC'I'ING WELL-TUBES.

Patented June 27,1876.

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INVENTOR %04 WITNESSES N PETE-RS. PHOTD-UTHOGRAPHER WKSNINGTUN D C- n'rrn TATES JOHN T. SHERFEY, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI.

IMPROVEMENT IN APPARATUS FOR INSERTING AND EXTRACTING WELL-TUBES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 179,360, dated June 27, 1876, application filed December 23, 1875.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, JOHN THOMAS SHER- FEY, of the city and county of St. Louis, in the State of Missouri, have invented a certain new and useful Apparatus for Inserting and Extracting Well-Tubing, of which the follow ing is a specification:

My invention consists, first, in a frame or bow constructed with holding-lugs, and adapted to be expanded by the horizontal thrust of a toggle-brace, which is operated by means of a suspension rod or chain under control of catches adapted to hold the said rod or chain from drawing on the toggle, and so retracting the supporting-frame from the well-tube when lowering the latter into the well.

The invention further consists in the com bination of a tube-supporting frame and suspension rod or chain, and a toggle-brace adapted to be inserted in either of two positions, as hereinafter described, so that the said togglebrace may operate to expand the frame by the upward draft of the rod or chain when it is to be used for extracting tubes, or may retract the frame from the tube to leave it in the well when the apparatus is used for lowering tubes.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure l is an elevation of the apparatus as adapted for use in lowering tubes, showing the frame in retracted position in dotted lines. Fig. 2 is a vertical section on the line 2, Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is an elevation of the apparatus, showing the toggle reversed to adapt it for use in extracting tubes, as hereinafter described.

The frame A may be made in one piece of metal in the form of an inverted U, the extremities of its legs a being bent inwardly, as shown, to serve as a guide in lowering one tube section on another. B B are lugs projecting horizontally from the exterior of each leg of the frame near its lower end. 0 C represent the two parts of a toggle lever or brace,

- back. E represents the suspension-rod connected by a chain, E, to the center hinge F of the suspension-rod will be sustained by the 7 center of the toggle. This upward draft, when the toggle is inserted in the position shown in Fig. 3, will press the heels d of the togglebrace against the inner faces of the frame, so as to hold the latter in its expanded state. When the toggle-brace is applied in the posi tion shown in Fig. 1, the upward draft of the chain tends to deflect it and retract the frame. G G represent catches hinged at g to the suspension-rod E, and engaging at their extremitics in recesses II in the shoulders of the frame, so as to prevent such upward draft of the rod upon the toggle, as to deflect the latter. I I may represent sections of well-tubes.

Operation: The well tube I being in position in the well, it is desired to lower an additional section, I. For-this purpose the frame is arranged, as illustrated in Fig. l, with the heels d of the toggle-brace downward, and the ends of the catches G inserted in the respective recesses H, in the shoulders of the frame. The frame A is then inserted in the tube-section I, the lower end of said tube-section resting on the lugs B B. It will now appear that the tube-section I can be lowered to any required depth within the well by means of the suspension-rod E. As it approaches the top of the section I, which was last set, the inwardly-deflected ends a of the frame serve to guide the end of the tube in concentric position over the other portion. As soon as the suspension-rod is relieved of the weight of the tube-section and frame, its continued descent causes the catches H to recede from the shoulders of the frame under which they bear, and to fall by their gravity. An upward draft on the rod E will now deflect the togglebrace O, retracting the lower ends of the frame from the tube, and permitting the rod and frame to be readily drawn out of the well.

Ifit be desired to remove a tube-section from a well of any depth, the toggle-brace O is applied in the reversed position shown in Fig. 3, by removing the pivots c, inverting the toggle-braces, replacing the pivots, and reattaching the chain E to the hinge-pintle at the center of the toggle. The frame is now lowered into the well with the toggle in its deflected position, as shown in full lines in Fig. 3, until its lugs B have passed-in-Eg .or below the tubesection to be removed? rod E is then drawn up, and the toggle-brace presses the lugs B against the inner face of the tube, with sufficient friction to raise. it, or the lugs may catch under the lower end of the tube-sctiou, as shown.

To limit the outward pressure of the toggle brace when used in drawing tubes, and to prevent the application of such pressure as would endanger the bursting of the tube, a stop-pin, K, is inserted in an aperture in the rod in such position that it will come in contact with the top of the frame before the. toggle brace reaches a horizontal or straight position.

The toggle-brace is formed with a number of apertures,ff, to receive the hinge-bolt F, so that the said brace may be adjusted, or varied in length to suit the diameter of the tube.

In practice,-a number of tube-sections, one on another, may be introduced or removed at once.

Having thus described my invention, the following is what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent 1. The combination of the frame A, lugs B, togglebrace O, suspension-rod E, and hinged catches Gr, operating substantially as described.

2. The combination, with the frame A, of a togglebrace, O, constructed with heels d, and hinged reversibly to the frame, so as to adapt it to contract or expand the frame at will by an upward pressure, substantially as described.

JOHN THOMAS SHERFEY.

Witnesses:

OCTAVIUS KNIGHT, OHAs. J. GoocH. 

